Title: What is HCI and where does GUI design fit in?
1What is HCI and where does GUI design fit in?
2Outcomes of the lecture
- Be able to describe the field of HCI
- Be able to argue whether or not specific subjects
should fall within the field - Understand how the design of graphical interfaces
fit within the broader field of HCI
3HCI defined
- Human-computer interaction is a discipline
concerned with the design, evaluation and
implementation of interactive computing systems
for human use and with the study of major
phenomena surrounding them - This is a working definition
- From the ACM SIGCHI (Association of Computing
Machinery, Special Interest Group for
Human-Computer Interaction)
4What is and isnt HCI?
- On the H side?
- On the C side?
5Three Mile Island
6The Control Panel
7Palm Beach Ballot
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9Beyond intuition
- Human-machine system designers cannot just rely
on intuition too many complex factors are
operating. - Instead, need to look to
- High level theories/models/principles
- Middle level principles
- Specific practical guidelines
10HCI principles
- General design principles involve being aware of,
and catering to, human abilities, skills and
differences (human factors). These apply to
design of any human-machine system e.g. cars,
playgrounds, lifts, phones, computers. - Designing human-computer interaction is a
particular area of human factors design with
specific principles and guidelines. - Designing user interfaces is specific area of HCI
and concerns general principles low level
concerns.
11HCI Three basic principles
- People want ease of use usually provided by
simplicity and transfer of existing experience. - The user view is different to the system
engineers view. Often engineers design systems to
perform a set of functions rather than with the
user in mind. - Computers and people are both better at some
tasks than others however they are better at
different tasks.
12Human factors
- Invention of machines (cars, airplanes,
electronic devices ...) taxed peoples
sensorimotor abilities to control them. - Even after high degree of training, frequent
errors (often fatal) occurred. - Result human factors became critically
important.
13Human factors
- However, designers still often consider cost and
appearance over human factors design. - People tend to blame themselves when errors
occur - I was never very good with machines
- I knew I should have read the manual!
- Look at what I did! Do I feel stupid!
- Bad design not always visible, but sometimes it
is very obvious!
14Human factors
- How many of you can program or use all aspects of
your - digital watch? Fax machines?
- VCR?
- stereo system (especially car stereos)
- unfamiliar water taps?
- ..no need to understand the underlying physics
..(or code) of everything simply the
relationship between the controls and the
outcomes - Donald Norman The design of
everyday things
15Related Fields
- Computer science
- application design and engineering of human
interfaces - Psychology
- the application of theories of cognitive
processes and the empirical analysis of user
behavior - Sociology and anthropology
- interactions between technology, work, and
organization - Industrial design
- interactive products
16Design process
- Important to consider the What, Why and How of
design process for an application before you even
begin to think about the interface, coding, etc. - User needs and usability goals must be addressed
at the beginning of the design process. Designers
can make incorrect assumptions about the
requirements.
17WAP mobile phone example
- People want to be kept informed of up-to-date
news wherever they are - reasonable - People want to interact with information on the
move - reasonable - People are happy using a very small display and
using an extremely restricted interface -
unreasonable - People will be happy doing things on a cell phone
that they normally do on their PCs (e.g. surf the
web, read email, shop, bet, play video games) -
reasonable only for a very select bunch of users - See http//www.useit.com/alertbox/20001210.html
18User needs usability
- 63 of large software projects go over cost
- Managers gave four usability-related reasons
- users requested changes
- overlooked tasks
- users did not understand their own requirements
- insufficient user-developer communication and
understanding - (Greenberg, 2001)
19 Human factors
- Norman Design of everyday things
- Most failures of human-machine system are due to
poor designs that dont recognize peoples
capabilities and fallibility's - This leads to apparent machine misuse and human
error - Good design always accounts for human
capabilities.
20Darn these hooves! I hit the wrong switch
again!Who designs these instrument panels,
raccoons?
21Human characteristics
- Designer must take into account variations in
human senses and motor abilities - Vision e.g. depth, contrast, colour blindness,
and motion sensitivity. - Hearing - e.g. audio cues must be distinct.
- Touch e.g. keyboard and touchscreen sensitivity.
- Motor control/ hand-eye coordination e.g use of
pointing devices. - Physical strength, coordination.
22Cognitive and perceptual abilities
- There are many aspects to human cognitive
abilities. For example - short-term memory
- long-term memory and learning
- problem solving, decision making
- attention and set (scope of concern)
- perception recognition
23- from Science magazine
- In 1988, the Soviet Unions Phobos 1 satellite
was lost on its way to Mars, when it went into a
tumble from which it never recovered.not long
after the launch, a ground controller omitted a
single letter in a series of digital commands
sent to the spacecraft. And by malignant bad
luck, that omission caused the code to be
mistranslated in such a way as to trigger the
ROM test sequence that was intended to be used
only during checkout of the spacecraft on the
ground
24Factors affecting cognitive, perceptual motor
performance
- Arousal, vigilance, fatigue
- Cognitive (mental) load
- Boredom, isolation, sensory deprivation
- Anxiety and fear
- Illness, ageing
- Drugs and alcohol
- Circadian rhythms, sleep deprivation
25Personality factors
- There is no single taxonomy for identifying user
personality types. - Designers must be aware that populations are
subdivided and that these subdivisions have
various responses to different stimuli. - Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
- extroversion versus introversion
- sensing versus intuition
- perceptive versus judging
- feeling versus thinking
26Awareness of cultural and international diversity
- Characters, numerals, special characters,
grammar, spelling - L-to-r vs r-to-l vs vertical input reading
- Date and time formats
- Numeric and currency formats
- Telephone numbers and addresses
- Names and titles (Mr., Ms., Mme.)
- Social-security, national id passport numbers
- Etiquette, policies, tone, formality, metaphors
27Which are universal and which are
culturally-specific?
28Users with disabilities
- Need to plan early to accommodate users with
disabilities as costs may be very high later - Some countries have laws which specify
requirements to comply with equal opportunity
legislation - http//www.useit.com/alertbox/20011111.html
- http//www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/
29Current Computing Systems
- Human factors and HCI design impact on all of the
large variety of current and emerging computer
systems. - However, the impact of various human factors and
design decisions depends on the nature of the
system.
30System types Critical systems
- Examples air traffic control, nuclear reactors
- High costs, reliability and effectiveness are
expected. - Lengthy training periods are acceptable to
provide error-free performance. - Subject satisfaction is less an issue due to well
motivated users. Retention via frequent use and
practice.
31Systems types Commercial/industrial
- Examples banking, production control, banking,
insurance, order entry, inventory management,
reservation, billing, and point-of-sales systems
- Lower cost may sacrifice reliability.
- Training is expensive, learning must be easy.
- Speed and error rates are relative to cost,
however speed is the supreme concern. Subject
satisfaction is fairly important to limit
operator burnout.
32System types Office/home/entertainment
- Examples Word processing, electronic mail,
computer conferencing, and video games,
education - Choosing functionality is difficult because the
population has a wide range of both novice and
expert users. - Competition causes the need for low cost.
- Subject satisfaction is very important.
33System types ???
- Examples Artist toolkits, statistical packages,
and scientific modelling systems - Benchmarks are hard to describe due to the wide
array of tasks - With these applications, the computer should
"vanish" so that the user can be absorbed in
their task domain.
34System engineering versus interface design
- System engineering evaluated by
- Coverage of task functionality.
- Reliability, security, integrity of system and
data. - Standardization, consistency and portability.
- Time and budget considerations.
35User interface evaluation
- Depends largely on human factors criteria
- 1. Learning time
- 2. Performance speed
- 3. Error rates of users
- 4. Retention over time
- 5. Subjective satisfaction
-
36HCI is concerned with
- Humans and machines jointly performing tasks
- The structure of communication between human and
machine - Human capabilities to use and learn to use
machines - Algorithms and programming of the interface
- Engineering concerns that arise in designing and
building interfaces - The process of specifying, designing, and
implementing interfaces - Design trade-offs
375 Areas of HCI
- The nature of human-computer interaction
- Use and context of computers
- Human characteristics
- Computer system and interface architecture
- Development processes
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39Nature of Human-Computer Interaction
- Overviews of, and theoretical frameworks for,
topics in human-computer communication
40N1 The Nature of Human-Computer Interaction
- Points of view
- HCI as communication
- agent paradigm, tool paradigm
- Human / system / tasks division
- Objectives or goals
- productivity, user empowerment
- History and intellectual roots
- HCI as an academic topic
- journals, literature
- relation to other fields
- science vs. engineering vs. design aspects
41Use and Context of Computers
- Applications of computers
- Applications and appropriate interfaces
- The general social, work, and business context
- In addition to technical requirements, an
interface may have to - satisfy quality-of-work-life goals of a labor
union - meet legal constraints on "look and feel
- position the image of a company in a certain
market - General problems of fitting computers, uses, and
context of use together
42U1 Social Organization and Work
- The human as an interacting social being
- The nature of work
- Human and technical systems mutually adapt to
each other and must be considered as a whole - Models of human activity, groups, organizations
- Models of work, workflow, cooperative activity
- Organizations as adaptive open systems
- Impact of computer systems on work and vice versa
- Computer systems for group tasks, case studies
- Quality of work life and job satisfaction
43U2 Application Areas
- Characterization of application areas
- Document-oriented interfaces
- Communications-oriented interfaces
- Design environments programming environments,
CAD/CAM - On-line tutorial and help systems
- Multimedia information kiosks
- Continuous control systems (process control
systems, simulators, cockpits, video games) - Embedded systems (Copier controls, elevator
controls, consumer electronics and home
appliances)
44U3 Human-Machine Fit and Adaptation
- Design addresses fit between the object and its
use - Adjustments can be made
- (1) at design time or at time of use
- (2) by changing the system or the user
- (3) by the users or by the system.
- Adaptive systems
- Theories of system adoption
- Customizing and tailoring
- Compatible users and systems
- User adaptation learning, training
- User guidance help, documentation,
error-handling
45Human Characteristics
- human information-processing characteristics
- how human action is structured
- the nature of human communication
- human physical and physiological requirements
46H1 Human Information Processing
- The human as a processor of information.
- Models of cognitive architecture
- Phenomena and theories of
- memory
- perception
- motor skills
- attention and vigilance
- problem solving
- learning and skill acquisition
- motivation
- Users' conceptual models
- Models of human action
- Human diversity, including disabled populations
47H2 Language, Communication and Interaction
- Language as a communication and interface medium
- Aspects of language syntax, semantics,
pragmatics - Formal models of language
- Conversational interaction
- turn-taking, repair
- Special languages
- graphical interaction, query, command, production
systems, editors - Interaction reuse
- history lists
48H3 Ergonomics
- Human anthropometry and workspace design
- Arrangement of displays and controls
- Human cognitive and sensory limits
- Sensory and perceptual effects of display
technologies - Control design
- Fatigue and health issues
- Furniture and lighting design
- Temperature and environmental noise issues
- Design for stressful or hazardous environments
- Design for the disabled
49Computer System and Interface Architecture
- Machines have specialized components for
interacting with humans - Transducers for moving information physically
between human and machine - Have to do with the control structure and
representation of parts of the interaction
50C1 Input and Output Devices
- Technical construction of devices
- Input devices
- Mechanics and performance
- Devices for the disabled
- Handwriting and gestures, virtual keyboard
- Speech input
- Eye tracking, EEG, other biological signals
- Output devices
- Mechanics and performance
- Devices for the disabled
- Sound and speech output
- 3D displays, motion (e.g., flight simulators)
- Device weight, portability, bandwidth, sensory
mode
51C2 Dialogue Techniques
- Techniques for interacting with humans
- Dialogue Interaction Techniques
- Dialogue type and techniques
- Navigation, orientation, error management
- Agents and AI techniques
- Multi-person dialogues
- Dialogue Issues
- Real-time response
- Manual control theory
- Supervisory control, automatic systems, embedded
systems - Standards
- "Look and feel," intellectual property protection
52C3 Dialogue Genre
- Conceptual uses for the technical means
- Concepts arise in any media discipline (film,
graphic design) - Interaction metaphors
- Content metaphors
- Persona, personality, point of view
- Workspace models
- Transition management
- Techniques from other media (film, theater,
graphic design) - Style and aesthetics
53C4 Computer Graphics
- Concepts from computer graphics that are useful
for HCI - Geometry in 2- and 3-D space, linear
transformations - Graphics primitives and attributes
- Solid modeling, splines, surface modeling, hidden
surface removal, animation, rendering algorithms,
lighting models - Colour representation, colour maps, colour ranges
of devices
54C5 Dialogue Architecture
- Software architectures and standards
- Layers and windows
- Screen imaging models (e.g. postscript)
- Window manager models, analysis of major window
systems - Models for specifying dialogues
- Multi-user interface architectures
- Standardization and interoperability
55Development Process
- Both design and engineering
- The methodology and practice of interface design
- The relationship of interface development to the
engineering of the rest of the system
56D1 Design Approaches
- The process of design
- Alternative system development processes
- Choice of method under time/resource constraint
- Task analysis techniques
- Design specification techniques
- Design analysis techniques
- Graphic design basics
- Industrial design basics
- Design case studies and analyses of design
57D2 Implementation Techniques and Tools
- Tactics and tools for implementation.
- Relationships among design, evaluation, and
implementation - Independence and reusability, application
independence, device independence - Prototyping techniques
- Dialogue toolkits
- Object-oriented methods
- Data representation and algorithms
58D3 Evaluation Techniques
- Philosophy and methods for evaluations
- Productivity
- Measures
- Time
- Errors
- Learnability
- Design for guessing
- Preference
- Testing techniques, link testing to
specifications - Formative and summative evaluation
- Methods from psychology and sociology
- Ethics
59D4 Example Systems and Case Studies
- Classic designs that serve as examples of HCI
- Command-oriented
- Graphics-oriented
- Frame-based
- User-defined
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61Where does GUI fit in?
- U3 human-machine fit and adaptation
- H1 human information processing
- H2 language, communication and interaction
- C1 input and output devices
- C2 dialog techniques
- C3 dialogue genre
- C4 computer graphics
- C5 dialogue architecture
- D1 design approaches
- D3 evaluation techniques
62References
- ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human
Interaction (SIGCHI). ACM SIGCHI is an
international, interdisciplinary forum for the
exchange of ideas about the field of
human-computer interaction. http//www.acm.org/si
gchi/ - Norman, D. A. (1998). The Design of Everyday
Things. New York, New York, USA Basic Books. - Shneiderman, B., Plaisant, C. (2005). Designing
the User Interface Strategies for Effective
Human-Computer Interaction (Fourth ed.). USA
Pearson Education, Inc. - Stone, D., Jarrett, C., Woodroffe, M., Minocha,
S. (2005). User Interface Design and Evaluation.
San Francisco, California, USA Elsevier.